Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp was not happy with one of his staff members who celebrated Andreas Christensen’s red card in the Reds’ 2-0 win over Chelsea on Sunday.Christensen received his marching orders just before half-time when he hauled down Sadio Mane. The Chelsea defender was initially shown a yellow card but it was upgraded to a red after referee Paul Tierney consulted the pitchside monitor.Journalist Julien Laurens, in attendance at Stamford Bridge, said the players in the stands clapped, which led to Klopp’s angry reaction.He turned around to the bench and shouted: “Are you crazy? We never, ever do that, ok?”
The red card put Liverpool in the driving seat and two goals from Sadio Mane in the second half helped them to an important 2-0 win.
When he was asked about the incident, Klopp said that it was a member of staff who celebrated the decision, not any of the substitutes.
“It was not one of my subs but another member of staff and I told him already what I think about it and he's good with that,” the German coach said, per the Daily Mail.
But in the moment that's something I don't want to see.
Liverpool and Chelsea were involved in a feisty affair in July which saw Frank Lampard lose his cool with Klopp and his coaches.
The Chelsea boss repeatedly told his counterpart to “f*** off” and accused Liverpool’s bench of being disrespectful during the match at Stamford Bridge, which the Reds won 5-3.
So there’s history here. And with Chelsea spending more than £200 million in the summer, they are now Liverpool’s rivals in the Premier League title battle.
The emotions boiled over when Christensen was sent off and we could have been in for another feisty encounter had Klopp not reprimanded his bench, helping to cool the situation.
Footage of Klopp's rebuke emerges
Video footage of the incident has now surfaced and Klopp’s frustration is clear.
The clapping is audible. We then see Klopp turn towards his bench and have a go at the culprit.
It was a classy move from the Liverpool boss. He’s as respectful as they come.
Christensen’s red card was the catalyst for Liverpool to leave Stamford Bridge with all three points.
After the restart, Mane scored twice in four minutes to give the reigning champions a comfortable advantage which they held on to, despite new signing Thiago Alcantara conceding a penalty with little more than 15 minutes remaining.
Chelsea’s Jorginho squandered the chance to get the Blues back into the contest though. Usually so successful from 12 yards, the Italian produced a poor effort that was saved by Alisson Becker.
Speaking to BBC Sport at full-time, Klopp said he brought Thiago on for his debut at half-time to help Liverpool manage their man advantage.
“It's always a tough game here. I liked the first half. It was two teams that wanted to play, create, defend and make things happen,” he said.
"They were the dominant side without goals but then a massive game-changer in the last seconds which was good for us. We had to adapt to that and we did.
"We decided to bring Thiago on early because it was 11 v 10 and a player like him can command the rhythm. It was the perfect start for him and the boys helped him massively."